ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
107 
DEAR DANDELION. 
(ADAPTED.) 
W INTER is over! summer is coming! 
May time is with us, so balmy and sweet! 
All creatures feel it, all things reveal it, 
Soft skies above us, green grass at our feet. 
Winter is ended, summer is coming ! 
May day and robin and crocus are here ! 
Green grows the clover ! still I roam over 
Garden and meadow for something more dear. 
Must I confess it ? Surely you guess it, 
Dearest of flowers to the heart of a child ; 
If I confide it, do not deride it, 
Call it 1 not weed , dear, because it is wild! 
Foliage ragged — ever invading 
Terrace and lawn in spite of your care; 
When you’re least thinking, up they come winking, 
Laugh in your face with the jolliest air. 
Duly at sunset droop the soft fringes, 
Only some little green tassels remain ; 
But with the dawning, bright as the morning, 
Golden and saucy they bloom out again, 
Crocus, arbutus, violet, snow-drop, 
Others may praise them, and love them the best, 
Give me my olden favorite golden ! 
Dear Dandelion ! You’re worth all the rest! 
Wide Awake, August, 1886. Laura D. Nichols. 
THE RETURN OF SPRING. 
K SPIRIT of beauty walks the hills, 
f\ A spirit of love the plain; 
The shadows are bright, and the sunshine fills 
The air with a diamond rain ! 
Before my vision the glories swim, 
To the dance of a tune unheard: 
Is an angel singing where woods are dim, 
Or is it an amorous bird ? 
Is it a spike of azure flowers, 
Deep in the meadows seen, 
Or is it the peacock’s neck that towers- 
Out of the spangled green ? • 
Is a white dove glancing across the blue. 
Or an opal taking wing ? 
For my soul is dazzled through and through. 
With the splendor of the Spring. 
Bayard Taylor. 
